The Global Search for Education: More Mindful Citizens Please

“We want mindfulness to be as common as brushing your teeth!” – Addie Wootten

The Dalai Lama once said, “if every 8 year old is taught meditation,
we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.”

Mindfulness has become much more relevant and effective in a
constantly changing environment. Clinical psychologist Dr. Addie Wootten
insists that inducting young children into the principles of
mindfulness early on in education allows them to focus more in class,
improve their learning outcomes and build healthier and more
constructive relationships with all those around them. Addie is a
well-known leader in delivering innovative programs to promote
wellbeing. She is also the CEO of Smiling Mind.

The Global Search for Education is pleased to welcome Addie to talk
about the numerous benefits of practicing mindfulness, the challenges to
implementing good programs in classrooms, and how good practice can
help every mind thrive in a modern world.

Mindfulness has been used by
clinicians to treat stress, anxiety depression, eating disorders and
addiction. Why isn’t mindfulness an important part of every student’s
education?

We are passionate about bringing mindfulness into every classroom for
exactly that reason. We envision a world where every young person has
the skills and resources that they need to thrive. Mindfulness provides
the foundation for young people to be mentally healthy and to build
strong and compassionate relationships. It is this strong foundation
that supports learning and academic success.

Over the last 5 years, there has been exponential growth in schools’
interest to implement mindfulness programs. However, this implementation
has varied widely according to each school. It ranges from one teacher
who is passionate about supporting their class using mindfulness
techniques, to more systematic and structured programs spearheaded by
the school leaders. We consider both approaches as equally important.
Yet, it has proven to be passionate individual teachers who have been
invaluable in helping us achieve what we have. Right now, we have over
45,000 Australian teachers subscribed to our mindfulness programs and
resources to enhance their classrooms. Nevertheless, our aim is to
eventually provide support to schools as institutions, rather than just
individual teachers. Research shows an entire school participating in
mindfulness techniques will yield a much larger impact. This will
positively affect students, the culture and climate of the school, and
teacher wellbeing. We even hope to reach beyond schools by encouraging
parents to use mindfulness practices at home.

At the moment, wellbeing initiatives are often seen as secondary to a
student’s academics. With such a large focus on educating students in
STEM, most believe that mindfulness programs only detract from other,
more important, areas of learning. On the contrary, mindfulness programs
have a positive effect on students’ ability to perform in an academic
context. We can only focus when our minds are calm and therefore our
learning is optimized by improved mental health. I hope to see a change
in attitude where mental wellbeing can be appreciated as supportive to
academic learning.

Thinking of today’s context versus the past, what do you
believe are the new skills youth need in an age of search, robotics and
AI? How are the goals of your framework aligned with social and
emotional learning in the age of AI?

Our modern world is more connected and unstable than ever before. The
skills that students require are fundamentally different to the skills
needed only a few generations ago. There has been a decrease of the
stable and defined professions that had shaped the working world.
Moreover, the development of Artificial Intelligence has rendered many
jobs obsolete. As a result, there is an increasing need for students to
develop general and transferable skills that can apply to the multiple
different career paths. The future of work will rely on our ability to
adapt, innovate and work creatively without defined borders or even
stable workspaces.

Our programs are designed to encourage students to develop these
skills while they are at school. These skills underpin essential social
and emotional learning. We want to foster a growth mindset in children
that makes them resilient and open to new experiences.

“We can only focus when our minds are calm and therefore our learning is optimized by improved mental health.” – Addie Wootten

Is mindfulness something that can be taught with toolkits and
slides in a classroom? How do real world experiences enhance/amplify
the learning?

Toolkits and slides are just the beginning. Initially, students need
to be introduced to the foundational concepts and discuss them with
their peers. Although peer-to-peer learning and debriefing is very
important, it’s not until students are able to apply these concepts to
the real world that they are able to appreciate the potential positive
impact that mindfulness has on their life. Therefore, alongside
meditation practices, we recommend mindfulness activities that clearly
link mindfulness with everyday activities. This can be as simple as
spending time in a garden or mindful movement activities, or more
complex such as activities designed to build social relationships. We
also encourage teachers to encourage students to use mindfulness more
informally such as when they are interacting with their friends and when
they’re at home. It’s amazing to see the impact that mindfulness has on
young people, and how it encourages students to support each other.

What are the mindfulness learning skills needed at different points in a student’s learning journey?

Our programs are designed to support students of all ages. We recently launched our new Mindfulness Curriculum
for primary school years. Our programs for young students are more
focused on emotional awareness. These younger level programs provide
foundational mindfulness skills such as focusing your attention, tuning
into your emotions and listening to your body. As students mature we
incorporate a variety of practices such as emotion regulation skills.
Finally, as they mature into their senior years of school we focus on
the integration of these ideas and concepts into real world experiences
like exams, managing relationships and exploring personal values.

“We should look for opportunities to integrate mindfulness across the learning environment.” – Addie Wootten

Curriculum is “overloaded” and many believe kids are
“overstressed” with required material. Do you see mindfulness education
as another “add-on” or should it be part of school culture?

This is one of the biggest barriers for many teachers; there is
already so much required material that they can never find the time for
mindfulness programs. I hope that more teachers and school leaders will
begin to consider mindfulness as inherently part of their school culture
and teaching way, rather than considering it an add on. Schools that
have been successful in doing this have actually found that it helps
save time. For instance, schools that begin with a mindfulness session
every day have displayed a significant decrease in the time needed to
gather the attention of students across all subject areas. Teaching
quickly becomes more efficient as students are focused and there are
often less behavioral disruptions during class time.

Personally, I don’t think we have to choose between traditional
curriculum and mindfulness sessions. Rather, we should look for
opportunities to integrate mindfulness across the learning environment –
even at the start of science or math class!

“It’s amazing to see the impact that mindfulness has on young people, and how it encourages students to support each other.” – Addie Wootten

The movie, Room to Breathe, illustrates to me that
not only do students need help with mindfulness education, teachers and
parents who care for them need it too. In what ways does your framework
nurture more of a community learning experience?

We believe strongly it is most effective to involve an entire school –
that includes encouraging teachers to use mindfulness in their personal
time when we train them, and also allowing parents to use techniques
home with their children. Parents and teachers are hugely influential
and we hope they will become mindfulness role models. It’s not until you
feel the benefits of mindfulness yourself that you can truly teach
young people to imitate you. Also, if we believe that mindfulness can
help young people, why wouldn’t we want teachers and parents to reap the
benefits as well? We have therefore committed time to developing
programs and resources to support mindfulness in schools, in the home
and in workplaces. We want mindfulness to be as common as brushing your
teeth!

C. M. Rubin is the author of two widely read online series for
which she received a 2011 Upton Sinclair award, “The Global Search for
Education” and “How Will We Read?” She is also the author of three
bestselling books, including The Real Alice in Wonderland, is the publisher of CMRubinWorld and is a Disruptor Foundation Fellow.